Stephanie, thank you for always providing the best explanation available for the Texans' offensive strategy. Most people don't even realize how the entire dynamic works, and it's important to know exactly how the system is being thrown off schedule. More importantly, content like this makes it easier for me to win bar debates about the Texans.

One thing that stood out to me in this post was that you passed on the opportunity to dig deeper into Schaub's December performance. My guess is that you are waiting for more evidence before drawing conclusions. For me, I have enough data to confidently armchair diagnose this one: Schaub may not be the only problem, but he is the problem that a playoff team can least afford.

As someone who has read most of your blog posts, I know that you are a big-picture, systemic analyzer. You look at what the system is trying to accomplish, and identify what actions need to be taken for it to execute. But if Schaub does not revert to September form by this Saturday, it will be impossible to attribute the loss to a systemic problem.

I don't think Schaub needs to play September form to win. His stats in September are artificially awesome because they didn't need him much because the defense was killing. It would be great to see the Denver game Schaub, and that is possible but the entire team played better that game too.

As much as people talk about a December swoon, his October numbers were worse.

Kubiak explains everything in his presser. The Texans offense is a team offense. And if they aren't playing clean, Andre Johnson can only do so much to bail everybody out.

I explain everything. Focus on penalties, offensive scheme stuff, what is wrong, what is fixable, what is not, what may need to be bandaided, and how momentum is a crock and all sorts of philosophy stuff.

It is an odd blog post. I've been told that some folks prefer my stranger blog posts. Learned stuff when writing it, maybe you will too. Hope you like it.

Good read, except you completely glossed over the two INTs... That's also uncharacteristic of this team. Two in one game... The James Casey one, looked like Schaub hesitated. I know all we can do is speculate as to why that was intercepted. Schaub makes that exact throw a dozen times a year & it's never picked off like that.

Flirting with disaster... maybe, because it almost happened on a similar throw to Andre.

Whatever the "reason" may be, I think we see Matt trying to play "outside" himself. After that throw, he started overthrowing balls & our guys have no chance to get those. I'm warming up to the idea that underthrowing is the way to go.

I do agree with you, that the dumb mistakes are fixable. The penalties, the presnap penalties, & the boneheaded out of position give up a big play mistakes can be fixed. My question is why haven't they? These aren't new, Quentin Demps has been flat footed since New England.

But for some reason, I believe Matt is going to turn it around. He's going to lead us to the AFC Championship game & a lot of people around here are going to have to STFU.

...Kubiak explains everything in his presser. The Texans offense is a team offense. And if they aren't playing clean, Andre Johnson can only do so much to bail everybody out...

Playing clean.

That's a good alternative way of saying "if we function smoothly and the other team doesn't."

This team can't play clean if they get their face smashed in from the opening whistle. I've seen it, we've all seen it. If a team stands up for itself, and if that other team puts up resistance to us...we struggle EVERYWHERE.

We're relying on other teams' inability to keep their cool in order for us to keep OURS.

I watch a ton of MMA events. There are some guys who have all the talent in the world, and if they get the opportunity to "play clean" they'll run wreck over their opponents. BUT...if that same fighter gets touched up a bit, maybe not even anything dramatically significant, those guys crack like Kubiak's Texans. They drop down, they cover up, and they retreat and even look for ways to get submitted so they can tap out and be done with the fight.

I sadly see this same condition in the Texans. There's no cure for it, either.

That's a good alternative way of saying "if we function smoothly and the other team doesn't."

This team can't play clean if they get their face smashed in from the opening whistle. I've seen it, we've all seen it. If a team stands up for itself, and if that other team puts up resistance to us...we struggle EVERYWHERE.

In this case, I think playing clean means without the penalties.

Quote:

Originally Posted by GP

I watch a ton of MMA events.

In the words of one of my favorite posters

Quote:

Originally Posted by GP

And while we're at it, let's get to the bottom of another curious failure: Chocolate whipped cream-in-a-spray-can. I used to be able to buy it anywhere, then one day it's gone. From EVERY store. Nowhere to be seen, anywhere. Why? That's some bullcrap is what that is. Nothing better than chocolate flavored whipped cream in a spray can. And it's gone. Forever. Help, please!

People that hate schaub and kubiak so much so, that they're too stupid to realize that the special teams AND DEFENSE suck too.

HEY DEFENSE... Get off the field v. the Colts in the 4th quarter.

Ya see, there's a difference between fans that can criticize the entire team versus people with personal agendas.

Maybe if the offense didn't keep screwing up and having short drives and turning the ball over, they wouldn't have been in that situation in the first place. I think most people have acknowledged that our special teams sucks, yet the special teams coach remains.

Maybe if the offense didn't keep screwing up and having short drives and turning the ball over, they wouldn't have been in that situation in the first place. I think most people have acknowledged that our special teams sucks, yet the special teams coach remains.

There is no good Plan B for the Special Teams coach in-season.

And he has had good special teams in the past, so it's not like he's like some Texans coaches who never had good groups either with the Texans or anyone else yet kept their jobs.

To only focus on coaching, without looking at the group he is working with, misses opportunities to fix things. And also risks thinking that you fix everything by just firing a guy. Using Manning in the playoffs is one of those things that may give ST coach more options.

Watch an entire game just focused on special teams. It is painful.

Watch the gunner defense. Too slow to keep up with true, designated ST gunners. Also watch the young guys like Posey. WRs can be very good special teams players, like Andre Davis was, but they are often not natural tacklers who take good angles.

Other than Braman, you don't have a lot of fast defensive players on this STs. The benefit of going to a 3-4 is that you need more LBs, which means more LBs available for ST. That benefit goes away when your LBs get hurt and you are thin on your defense...and then your special teams.

And even the WRs available for ST aren't crazy speedster types. Davis back in day was said to be the fastest guy on the team.

And then punter/kicker were basically scraped together as guys the Texans could afford. Not their Plan A options, and for being Plan B options, you could do a lot worse.

Good read, except you completely glossed over the two INTs... That's also uncharacteristic of this team. Two in one game... The James Casey one, looked like Schaub hesitated. I know all we can do is speculate as to why that was intercepted. Schaub makes that exact throw a dozen times a year & it's never picked off like that.
...

& I'm not a Schaub fan.

Schaub looks like he is pressing some. Has made a number of uncharacteristic throws late this season, and has been probably taking more risks because the defense has become more suspect. Also makes some tough throws that people tend to ignore because they were completed...catches that would not be made by a lot of QBs in the NFL but what we've become sort of used to.

Schaub has been going to Johnson a ton because he has chemistry with him and Andre is Andre. But the offense works better when he can spread it around, and 3-5 WRs do not have catch rates that are up to Texans standards. They are drive killers, which takes away an aspect of the offense.

Schaub can be a streaky QB--both good and bad. Having good down and distance helps. Would also help to get more short fields just as an matter of math.

I blame the fans. Yeah, that will be my new angle with this whole thing since I don't want to hurt the teams feelings by being too critical on them.

Then perhaps somebody besides the fans can blame the players who listen to the fans who actually believe their press clippings and what I like to call twitfluff. I think I'm gonna blame the whole messy, sorted Bulls on Parade charade. The season was cursed early on when we violated a basic principle of building proper football lore. Catchy nicknames are for teams that make some noise in the playoffs. Everything else is a paper tiger.

The 2012 Texans go like this...

Early in the season there is a whine that we don't get enough respect even though we haven't done anything yet - check

Schaub looks like he is pressing some. Has made a number of uncharacteristic throws late this season, (1) and has been probably taking more risks because the defense has become more suspect. (2)Also makes some tough throws that people tend to ignore because they were completed...catches that would not be made by a lot of QBs in the NFL but what we've become sort of used to.

Schaub has been going to Johnson a ton because he has chemistry with him and Andre is Andre. But the offense works better when he can spread it around, and 3-5 WRs do not have catch rates that are up to Texans standards. They are drive killers, which takes away an aspect of the offense.

Schaub can be a streaky QB--both good and bad. Having good down and distance helps. Would also help to get more short fields just as an matter of math.

(1) I disagree that Schaub has been taking more risks. 1 TD pass over the last 19 Quarters of play tend to point to the notion that Schaub is not taking any risks whatsoever. It seems like when Schaub is rattled, or has low confidence, he generally goes into ultra conservative mode. Hence, all the 3 & outs the offense has been accumulating over the past 6 weeks.

(2) Can you elaborate on this statement? I am not sure what game you are watching, but Schaub definitely does not make "some tough throws". In fact, I believe he in incapable of throwing to the back shoulder (something he has never done), the fade, or to the sidelines. Schaub is most comfortable throwing to the middle of the field, which is not a "tough throw" by NFL standards. "catches that would not be made by a lot of QBs in the NFL but what we've become sort of used to." I assume you mean "throws that would not be made..." Are you saying that Schaub is currently making throws that are not being made by other NFL QB's?

(1) I disagree that Schaub has been taking more risks. 1 TD pass over the last 19 Quarters of play tend to point to the notion that Schaub is not taking any risks whatsoever. It seems like when Schaub is rattled, or has low confidence, he generally goes into ultra conservative mode. Hence, all the 3 & outs the offense has been accumulating over the past 6 weeks.

(2) Can you elaborate on this statement? I am not sure what game you are watching, but Schaub definitely does not make "some tough throws". In fact, I believe he in incapable of throwing to the back shoulder (something he has never done), the fade, or to the sidelines. Schaub is most comfortable throwing to the middle of the field, which is not a "tough throw" by NFL standards. "catches that would not be made by a lot of QBs in the NFL but what we've become sort of used to." I assume you mean "throws that would not be made..." Are you saying that Schaub is currently making throws that are not being made by other NFL QB's?

And he has had good special teams in the past, so it's not like he's like some Texans coaches who never had good groups either with the Texans or anyone else yet kept their jobs.

To only focus on coaching, without looking at the group he is working with, misses opportunities to fix things. And also risks thinking that you fix everything by just firing a guy. Using Manning in the playoffs is one of those things that may give ST coach more options.

Watch an entire game just focused on special teams. It is painful.

Watch the gunner defense. Too slow to keep up with true, designated ST gunners. Also watch the young guys like Posey. WRs can be very good special teams players, like Andre Davis was, but they are often not natural tacklers who take good angles.

Other than Braman, you don't have a lot of fast defensive players on this STs. The benefit of going to a 3-4 is that you need more LBs, which means more LBs available for ST. That benefit goes away when your LBs get hurt and you are thin on your defense...and then your special teams.
And even the WRs available for ST aren't crazy speedster types. Davis back in day was said to be the fastest guy on the team.

And then punter/kicker were basically scraped together as guys the Texans could afford. Not their Plan A options, and for being Plan B options, you could do a lot worse.

I am sure there is a reason for bolded but I have always wanted fast DBs and LBs only on punt and kickoff coverage. These guys are usually quick to adjust, good feet, good angles and know how to tackle. The other frustration (other than blocking in the back) is ST blocking when Texans are receiving the kick off. Hit somebody! is a frequent scream of mine. It is crazy to see ball carrier switch directions only to discover his blockers have eased up to watch play. "Whoops! Darn he is coming back this way. Uh, what do I do now? Oh yeah block someone (and often in the back)".

__________________
I want to be able to recognize the difference between a "want" and a "need" and then I want to be satisfied with getting a need

(1) I disagree that Schaub has been taking more risks. 1 TD pass over the last 19 Quarters of play tend to point to the notion that Schaub is not taking any risks whatsoever. It seems like when Schaub is rattled, or has low confidence, he generally goes into ultra conservative mode. Hence, all the 3 & outs the offense has been accumulating over the past 6 weeks.

(2) Can you elaborate on this statement? I am not sure what game you are watching, but Schaub definitely does not make "some tough throws". In fact, I believe he in incapable of throwing to the back shoulder (something he has never done), the fade, or to the sidelines. Schaub is most comfortable throwing to the middle of the field, which is not a "tough throw" by NFL standards. "catches that would not be made by a lot of QBs in the NFL but what we've become sort of used to." I assume you mean "throws that would not be made..." Are you saying that Schaub is currently making throws that are not being made by other NFL QB's?

1. In back half of the season, I've seen some throws where it is looking like he's trying to make a big play that isn't there--Posey surrounded by defenders? The Walter in the endzone INT with an open Foster is the obvious one. He feels like he needs to do more because he does need to do more--the running game is inconsistent, and the defense has been struggling with personnel/injury changes. It's easy to have great TD/INT ratio when you are playing with leads and your defense has 3rd down conversion numbers in the 20s, when 2nd best numbers are in the 30s and are killing on turnovers. Schaub isn't the only one that looks like he's pressing in the back half of the season.

We want the Texans not to press, but of course, the team is in uncharted territory for them. They are not ho hum, every year we are favored to win team. We would like for Kubiak to coach them through this, but sadly, with football as in life, some stuff you just learn by doing and through hard experience. And quite frankly, some of this is just expectations stuff. I'm surprised they've been able to put together a season with this many wins given an unorthodox, but likely necessary revolving door Oline.

Has there ever been a dominant, expected to win Houston sports team? Comets maybe.

Maybe they snap out of this, maybe they can't. It's football. Each game if played 10,000 times would have 10,000 different results. A good portion of football in each game and in a loser take all format involves luck and making your own luck.

2. Um yes. Just about every game. (Though that Vikings game was a weird misery). If you haven't seen Schaub make throws that a good number of starting NFL quarterbacks do not make regularly, then you haven't been watching carefully. Does he do Flacco bombs all the time? No. But neither does Flacco because he's inconsistent. And ugh, Flacco can't make basic bread and butter throws regularly. Maddening sort of QB.

Schaub is not just dinking and dunking. Over the years, he's been near top of the league with YPC, and not all of that is runs after the throw because a lot of times he is threading the needle, moving the chains.

People complain about him going fetal with hits but some of that is by design. P Manning does the same thing. If you know you are going to get biffed, and you can't throw it away, wrapping up and taking the hit is better than trying to be a hero and losing the ball. Live another day.

Schaub has his strengths and weaknesses like all QBs, but often it is easier to focus on the disappointing throws because profanity. You don't notice the whoa throws because Texans fans have been accustomed to seeing the ball move down the field.

He's being challenged this year because the 3-5 WR catch rate is way lower than what is acceptable in this offense. So that decreases reliable targets. And results in maybe taking a shot down field for James Casey because at least if the ball gets to him, he catches it at a rate higher than any other target on the team.

Run game not working consistently also takes away a lot of the play action options and results in negative run plays.

I blame the fans. Yeah, that will be my new angle with this whole thing since I don't want to hurt the teams feelings by being too critical on them.

Then perhaps somebody besides the fans can blame the players who listen to the fans who actually believe their press clippings and what I like to call twitfluff. I think I'm gonna blame the whole messy, sorted Bulls on Parade charade. The season was cursed early on when we violated a basic principle of building proper football lore. Catchy nicknames are for teams that make some noise in the playoffs. Everything else is a paper tiger.

The 2012 Texans go like this...

Early in the season there is a whine that we don't get enough respect even though we haven't done anything yet - check

10 new head coaches in 2006. Where are they now & where are their teams? McCarthy & Peyton are the only ones with their jobs (& rightfully so after winning a Super Bowl each) but none of those other teams, Bills, Lions, Chiefs, Vikings, Jets, Raiders, Rams are even close to the Texans..... well, maybe the Vikings.

You look at those 10 teams & take into consideration what they started with, Kubiak's done a great job & I really don't see how anyone could argue.

Never mind that I'd like another HC. I don't like his style. I don't like his demeanor. & I think we could do better.

But I'm not delusional enough to believe Bill Cowher could take this team from where Kubiak got it to where it is now. I believe Cowher can take it from here & go on to a decade of winning, but that's a totally different story.